posted at 7:31 pm on March 31, 2011 by Allahpundit

Really irritating, and I say that knowing it’ll damage my cherished RINO cred. From his letter tonight to Reid and McConnell:

I am disappointed that despite passing six different FY 2011 Continuing Resolutions, each with the understanding that passage would move bi-partisan negotiations further along, that we are once again faced with the likelihood of a government shutdown. A government shutdown absolutely serves no purpose and is in no one’s best interests. I stand ready to work with each of you, to do what it takes—and to put politics aside—and work on behalf of a greater good to ensure that Congress reach a bi-partisan compromise for FY 2011 and avoid a government shutdown.

Our collective work begins by having a clear understanding of the seriousness of our budget crisis and what is at stake if we fail to address it. We can all agree that we simply cannot continue on this reckless, unsustainable course. Reducing and eliminating needless spending and programs are appropriate, but a wholesale reduction in spending, without considering economic, cultural, and social impacts is simply irresponsible. We must also be mindful that many of the proposed spending reductions would disproportionately affect the neediest among us, including housing and heating assistance. Likewise, some of the proposed cuts would be economically counterproductive, negatively impacting our ability to innovate and invest in research and development.

Deficit reduction is a necessary goal for our country. But deficit reduction should not be achieved in isolation of our priorities as a government and a society.

Translation: “Dear Massachusetts voters — just a reminder that I’m basically an independent now.” I don’t know what annoys me more, the sheer vacuousness of the let’s-cut-but-let’s-be-reasonable bromides or his suggestion that GOP deficit hawks are blindly slashing spending without regard for how it’ll affect people. The baseline Republican demand of $61 billion in cuts would remove a bucketful of red ink from a giant reservoir; even a fiscal conservative as stalwart as Rand Paul is limiting himself to cuts of $500 billion, just a third of this year’s deficit alone. If you’re going to blanch at “cultural impacts” when the GOP breaks out its safety scissors, what’ll happen when Ryan and company break out the scalpel and go after entitlements? And incidentally, Brown himself is a co-sponsor of the new Balanced Budget Amendment (as are all 47 Republican senators). He realizes, I hope, that if that were to pass, the hard choices he’d be forced to make in appropriating federal spending would be way, way tougher than the chump change we’re talking about right now.

Here’s Pence at this morning’s tea party rally outside the Capitol making the counterargument. Say this much for Brown, though: As a retail politician, the guy knows exactly what he’s doing. According to Democrats’ own internal polling, his approval ratings stands at 73 percent. Six months after Republicans were destroyed in Massachusetts, even amid a red wave nationwide, no prominent Democrat in the state polls within 10 points of him head-to-head. And of course, the more tea partiers grouse about him, the more it polishes his indie cred for centrist Democrats. There’s actually a small chance that, in the bluest of blue states, with Obama at the top of the ticket, the Dems won’t even bother running a top-flight challenger against him next year for fear that it’d be a lost cause. Simply amazing.

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Federal spending 2011 $3.8Trillion.
Federal spending 2009 $2.9Trillion’
So $900 Billion in two years has become so important that to remove any of it is irresponsible. How the hell did we survive in 2009 with only $2.9 Trillion.Why can’t any GOPer ask that question?

I had expressed understanding of Scott Brown in his maverick stances in not always standing withe the Republicans. I do not understand why he feels it is so necessary to assume such a public, provocative and disrespectful action towards his own party, when the most recent poll shows that he has a 73% approval rating in Massachusetts, and the Dems had pretty much given up challenge to his re-election.

I had expressed understanding of Scott Brown in his maverick stances in not always standing withe the Republicans. I do not understand why he feels it is so necessary to assume such a public, provocative and disrespectful action towards his own party, when the most recent poll shows that he has a 73% approval rating in Massachusetts, and the Dems had pretty much given up challenge to his re-election.

bayview on March 31, 2011 at 8:49 PM

1. that’s how he got to 73%
2. The Party did nothing for him at all. They wrote him off and he wrote them off. So, he sticks them in the eye with a hot poker until he feels he’s gotten his pound of flesh.

This isn’t the Scott Brown I voted for… I wonder if he’s so concerned about re-election that he needs to start spewing this crap to appease the limo-liberals in Newton. I understand being softer on social issues, but to cave on spending cuts when so little has actually been cut already is alarmingly weak.

Sen. Brown, I don’t care if the government shuts down. To keep burning through money based on fear of a shutdown is more of the same behavior that’s gotten us into this mess. Just think of a shutdown as what the future will be like when the federal government is bankrupt except a shutdown is more temporary.

meh.. I think Brown knows exactly what he needs to say to maintain that 73% approval rating. When it comes down to it, he has never screwed us over on a critical vote. Yes, he’s voted against us, but only when there is little to nothing to be gained by him voting with us (i.e. when we are nowhere near passage, or a similar circumstance). I think the guy is playing MA libs like a fiddle, all the while providing the support we need on the biggest issues. And doing all this in the seat formerly known as Kennedy’s.

Really irritating, and I say that knowing it’ll damage my cherished RINO cred. From his letter tonight to Reid and McConnell:

And if Mike Castle had been elected – he’d be standing right beside Scott Brown!

Which is why we are SOOOO much better with a Democrat in that Delaware seat. Sure – he won’t support the cuts – but neither would Castle.

And lets be clear – we’re talking about cuts so infinitesimal in the overall picture – that, if you can’t stomach these cuts – you can’t do what’s required to cut the budget NEXT year – or to reform entitlements.

I think this kind of “seals” the argument that RINO’s are not, in any way, beneficial to the GOP.

It’s like Brown is rubbing salt in the eyes of people who are straining to defend him. He is pushing it.
Blue State RINOs have to survive, but as much as possible they should show their “independence” on bills where their vote doesn’t matter, the Republican position has nowhere near enough votes or more than enough votes. If on one or two minor bills a term, they feel the need to be the tiebreaker vote for the Democrats, that can be acceptable in limited circumstances. However, even when they vote against the Republicans they should never vocally criticize the Republican position or pressure fellow Republicans to also break with the party.
Thats my line, and Brown is crossing it.

Many of the first group out for the NOV 2010 election had a purpose: get rid of the spendthrift Republicans. They were kamikaze missions and scared the hell out of the Republican Old Guard which is just what was needed to let them know this stuff is serious.

Since then the Tea Party has taken over the R party in UT, FL and NH, to name a few. If you want perfect performance from a group of people many who had never been involved in politics at all in their lives in less than 2 years, you are dreaming.

Scott Brown was a dose of Kaopectate when nothing else was available. A bit more of that was sent in 2010. Immodium-D is required in 2012.

From one man calling for a Tea Party on the Chi-Town Board of Exchange to political force in two years: you want perfection? Ain’t happening.

Massachusetts establishment GOPers are dyed in the wool RINOs. The state party is a joke. There are, believe it or not, conservatives in MA—and none of them support Brownie.

Brown can not be counted on as a vote for a future conservative President’s SCOTUS nominee. There is no benefit to having him re-elected. He only empowers the RINO and drift to the Left caucus within the GOP.

Scott Brown for President! He is so electable, so moderate, so centrist, and look at that hair. He could win New England for the Republicrats. He won’t be controversial and address any of those pesky “divisive” issues like financial solvency, illegal alien colonization, entitlement spending, over taxation, over regulation, the repeal of Obamacare, or Constitutional governance. He’s dreamy. Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin are stupid!/Establishment Liberal Republican Operative

Let him say whatever he wants. He’s just one guy and when 2012 hits his maverick status will diminish.
Nothing’s forever.
If a Republican can take a so called Kennedy seat. A conservative Republican can take a Scott Brown RINO seat.

Brown need not have intimated that it is the Republicans that will shut down the government. It is the Democrats who have been bleating that tune. It was irresponsible of Brown to take the tack that his own caucus is not attentive to the needs of the country in working toward fiscal sanity. He took some unnecessary cheap shots when he would have been wiser to keep his rhetoric to himself.

We must also be mindful that many of the proposed spending reductions would disproportionately affect the neediest among us, including housing and heating assistance. Likewise, some of the proposed cuts would be economically counterproductive, negatively impacting our ability to innovate and invest in research and development.

I donated to Brown too and consider it a good investment as he was the deciding vote against the DREAM Act.

But, when I got an e-mail requesting another donation this week I unsubscribed and stated the reasons why.

bw222 on March 31, 2011 at 9:16 PM

Me too. I think Brown might be understanding that the financial help he got from conservatives is over. He is now on his own to get money from squishy RINOs and independents. The only thing he will be good for in 2013 is the vote for Majority Leader, period. Just watch him join the maine twins on crucial votes after that.

Nah. He’s a liberal assh*le, of course. Massachusetts is a state with nothing but liberal assh*les in it…what do you expect? His value is limited to one thing, and one thing only: despite being a liberal Democrap, he calls himself a Republican, and his presence in the Senate counts as 1 “R” for committee memberships and chairmanships.

The GOP simply needs to remember never…ever…to give him anything worthwhile. He must never gain an important committee chairmanship. Let him write all the sanctimonious letters he wants, declaring that Republicans eat their young, etc., as long as he are one.

So check it out: The Republican majority in the House has a crybaby drunk as speaker of the House while the Democratic majority in the House had a radical but savvy and committed political animal as their speaker.

Scott Brown is a fraud.
He has proven woefully inadequate to address the crushing debt and deficits.
He has proven woefully inadequate on government spending.
Maybe he and John Kerry need to quite doing saunas together, it’s affecting his politics.

Maybe Scott Brown is listening to his daughters too much:
“Daddy Daddy, don’t cut spending! The poor need their hand-outs!”
“Sweethearts, the tweets I’m getting are saying we need to cut spending.”
“Daddy, those are coming from those horrible tea partiers. That reminds me, do we get to come to your next big fund-raiser party?”
“Sure, darlings. Now go along and don’t worry, I’ll keep those hand-outs going for the poor.”

I think James O’Keefe and his buddies need to do a little investigative work on Scott Brown. I’m sure he could turn up something. Then we could have a solid Tea Party candidate defeat him in the next election.

Scott Brown was a ONE issue candidate. And, he did deliver on that ONE issue.

Now, Scott is lining himself up to become an independant. He knows he will not have any serious national money in the next cycle, so I suspect he is going to change his party affiliation BEFORE the next primary in Mass.

PS: Do NOT believe the Dem’s polls. Scott will lose in the next election for more than one reason.

Sen Scott Brown is correct. The GOP Cuts are irresponsible idiocy because they are forcing everyone to believe they know best on how to spend taxpayers dollars. Compromise is possible — since the Demcocrats and GOP can’t agree on how to cut back on spending, let the taxpayers make these tough decisions by converting as many federal programs as possible into NGOs that taxpayer could directly support with their tax dollars…

If Sen Brown wants to support Planned Parenthood over paying down the debt, fine, let’s develop a system that allows for these sorts of tough choices to be made by ALL of us taxpayers, not just politicians buying votes and campaign dollars with other people’s money… If the productive (taxpayer) sector is given the ability to direct our nation’s future, it will quickly redirect itself towards prosperity for all, not just handouts for a few…

The most amazing thing is that it seems like you expect Brown to act like a right winger. As long as he votes with the GOP @ 75% of the time, he is WAY better than any alternative we have here in Mass. Must I remind you that Lurch Kerry votes with Harry 98% of the time? Keep up the great work Senator Brown. I’ll be here doing my best to help you get re-elected. The best we’ve had from this state in decades.

Maybe I’m alone in this, but I find it more useful to have a Ted Kennedy showing us what a real liberal looks like than Scott Brown showing us what a fake Republican looks like. I gave money to this punk’s campaign hoping he’d be the 41st vote to block Obamacare. He wasn’t even useful in that regard. If he thinks these tiny cuts are “irresponsible” then he can run for re-election without my help.

Please put a sock in it Brown. Your BS rhetoric is not helpful in moving the ball down the field and you are only trying to keep your approval ratings up for re-election.

Your comment is just another example of my belief that politicians only represent themselves, their families, the money and power people who got them elected and the money and power people who are going to keep them in office.

I past tired of this clown. Get him out. I don’t care if his seat goes back to the dhims. At least then when the same tripe is spewed then it won’t be some Benedict Arnold stabbing us in the back.

And for those of you clamoring that we should leave him along because he’s in Kennedy’s seat and in the bluest of blue states…well then get him to shut his trap. He gives Reid and the dhims more ammo when he as a Rep says these things than if it were just a rank and file dhim.

As long as he votes right on the question of majority leader, I’m afraid this is about as good as it gets when it comes to Massachusetts.

DocinPA on March 31, 2011 at 9:54 PM

You sound like the ones who said a Republican can never win the “Kennedy seat”. You don’t know what’s possible until you try. If you’re ready to just settle, why bother getting out of bed in the morning?

Primary his @ss. Whats the worse that can happen? He changes parties. So what. He has already done that with is own actions. If he wants to be an independant then show him the door. Let the people of his state compare him to a cannidate with conservitive/Republican values so they can see the difference.